Accessibility Statement

1. Our Commitment

Diplomatic Village Ltd is committed to ensuring that this website and the DVL Portal are accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of ability, device, or technology. We believe that access to information about government- licensed services should not be a barrier for anyone.

We continually work to improve the user experience for all visitors and apply relevant accessibility standards to our digital products.

2. Standards We Follow

This website aims to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA, published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). These guidelines explain how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities.

Our implementation includes, but is not limited to:

• Semantic HTML: Correct use of headings, landmarks, lists, and other structural elements to support screen readers and assistive technologies.
• Keyboard navigation: All interactive elements — links, buttons, form fields — are accessible and operable via keyboard alone.
• Colour contrast: Text and interactive elements meet the WCAG AA minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text.
• Alternative text: All meaningful images include descriptive alternative text. Decorative images are marked to be ignored by assistive technologies.
• Form labels and errors: All form fields are labelled, and validation errors are communicated clearly and programmatically via ARIA attributes.
• Focus indicators: Visible focus indicators are maintained for all interactive elements.
• Responsive design: The website adapts to different viewport sizes and text scaling up to 200% without loss of content or functionality.

3. How We Test

We test for accessibility using a combination of automated tooling and manual review. Our approach includes:

• Automated linting and static analysis during development.
• Manual keyboard navigation testing on all primary user journeys.
• Screen reader testing using NVDA (Windows) and VoiceOver (macOS/iOS) on key pages.
• Colour contrast verification using WCAG-compliant contrast checkers.

4. Known Limitations

While we strive to achieve full WCAG 2.1 AA compliance, some areas of this website may not yet meet all guidelines. Known limitations include:

• Certain embedded third-party content (such as maps or portal iframes) may not fully conform to accessibility standards, as this depends on the third-party provider.
• Some older PDF documents linked from this site may not be fully accessible. We are working to remediate these over time.

We are actively working to address these limitations. If you encounter a specific issue, please contact us using the details below.

5. Feedback and Assistance

We welcome feedback on the accessibility of this website. If you experience any barriers to access or have suggestions for improvement, please contact us:

We aim to respond to accessibility feedback within five (5) business days. If you are unable to access specific content or functionality, please let us know and we will endeavour to provide the information in an alternative format.

6. Review Schedule

This statement will be reviewed and updated at least annually, or following significant changes to the website. We are committed to continuous improvement of the accessibility of our digital services.